I felt that Brianna is the hidden jewel of his class. I personally want to see her on Diggins. I think we handle ND this year. Just an early call based on whar I've seen so far.
I share your enthusiasm re: BBanks, and she may well develop into a great defender capable of giving SkyDigg some trouble. However, a player like Diggins requires great team effort. She has an incredible handle and she is constantly working off screens, etc. You try to follow her over the screen and she can take it to the lane in a heartbeat. You cheat under and she rises for the jumper. I think a lot of the time, the coaches are going to want our D to switch or even look to trap/double sometimes when Diggins has the ball, so one perimeter player is going to have to work as hard as the next. Not that one player won't have primary responsibility when we're in M2M defense, but you get my point. BBanks may well get the primary assignment on Diggins at some point, but I wouldn't necessarily throw her in the deep end just yet .......
This year we should have an improved bunch of perimeter defenders and depending on the lineup on the floor, our ability to switch effectively should be a strength: Kelly (who won't always be on the perimeter) and Tiff are excellent defenders and very quick, Bria is improved and we have added BBanks the waterbug: Geno says he is going to try and put her in situations where UCONN can exploit her defensive talents. OTOH, per the coaches' most recent comments, KML's on-ball defense needs some work and I'm not sure where CDoty will be defensively as far as lateral quickness and explosiveness. This is a still question mark. She's very smart so I think she'll be OK. Inside, we are a little softer around the basket without Maya coming over to help when a player (like Diggins) gets into the lane. Stef is much improved when it comes to altering and blocking some shots but she is still just a soph and is not like Tina was in her last couple of years (obviously no knock on Stef). Maya's help defense--which along with her rebounding was her biggest contribution defensively--will be sorely missed.
Incidentally, the two greatest defensive switching teams that I ever saw were both active around the same time. First, the 1989 Illinois team with Kendall Gill, Marcus Liberty, Kenny Battle, Nick Anderson, Lowell Hamilton and Stephen Bardo. Glen Rice's Michigan team beat them at the last second if memory serves, either in the Final Four or the regional final. Anyway, that Illinois team could switch all day and never care who ended up on whom. Five mid-size,
tremendously athletic guys, basically. Just an unbelievable team. The other team was the Detroit Pistons of the late 80s. Not the same as far as being equivalent in size and athleticism across the board, but boy could they rotate on defense. It was a thing of beauty for a team that didn't play a very 'elegant' brand of basketball on the offensive end ...
